The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-06-09
PATENT PiCKEREL TRAP.
Ii Was Death on the Fish, but Not OF
Much Use, as 1t Caught Nothing but
Their Heads.


Their Heads.
A score of yawning pckerel heads.
dried and vanished, decorate the back
bar of the American house, writes II
Bloomfield, N. j., correspondent of The
NeW York Sam They are evidently put
there for the single purpose of making
people ask questions, as they are Meth
er pretty nor ornamental. Barkeepcr
Eddy will not explain the presence of
the heads. and his manner when ar
preached on the subject indicates that
the gaping jaws and long faces of the
fish are suggestive of something either
unpleasant or Disappointing. The
landlord. hover, is never too busy
to tell about these trophies. and gener-
ally when he begins to tell the story
the barkeeper goes into the billiard
room and makes Il noise with the stove
CRATE, or bushes himself cleaning cues
and busting the tables.
''Were all those pickerel caught at
once?' asked guest one day last week
in the absence of the barkeeper.
IAN at once" answered the land
lord.
"Rather a nice mess. That bigge st
head looks rs Enough it would about fit
a six-pound fish. Must have been
some fun pulling him in" remarked
the guest.
'Well, hardly" said the landlord.
holding up the head and looking
through it at the questioner "It was
very funny, but the fellow that caught
it didn't have any fun. We had all the
fun after he got home. l guess you
haven't heard about Eddy's patent
back-action automatic pickerel tip-ups.
have your"
The guest assured the landland that
he had not. and showed so much inter-
est in the matter that the latter leaned
with his elbow on the bar and began:
''Well, you see, Eddy is always trying
to make folks believe he is a great fish
erman, and this winter he laid himself
out for days fishing through the ice.
He talked about it for months, and re-
fused to take anybody into the snap
with him, although lots of the boys
wanted to 90. He spent all his leisure
time for week drawing plans of some
thing, and then for month more he
was either running over to the black
smiths or puttering around in the car
riage house every time he got mo-
ment to spare. One day went into the
blacksmith shop and saw Il thingumbob
with coiled steel wire spring to it,
and the blacksmith told me it was a
patent pickerel trap, and that he was
going to make two dozen like it. He
didn't tell me who ordered him to, but
l didn't need telling. l knew they
were for Eddy.
swell, one day last month Eddy said
he wanted to go up to Hopatcong next
day, and said all right. Next morn
ing he started with two champagne
baskets and we guyed him about them
and told him they wouldn't hold all
the fish he was going to catch. He
laughed and said Hold on till l
come back and will show you. He
came back about 10 O clock that night
and chucked twenty picherel heads on
the table there. | asked him where
the rest of the fish where, and II e told
me that he got hungry and ate them,
an that's all he would say about the
matter. l don't suppose l would have
ever found out about it, but for Ike
Mcpherson, of Newark. He was work
ing at the big Hotel Breslin. and when
Eddy got up there at the lake Ike went
out to help him cut holes in the ice and
set his newfangled tip-ups. 1t was a
mighty cold day, and just as soon
as they got the things fixed they shot
for the hotel and staid there for a
couple of hours. Now, Ike described
those ip-ups to me, and didn't need
anyth; ng else but his description to ex-
plain how Eddy got those heads. He
said that when the trays were stuck
down into the ice a long arm of steel
wire stood straight up in the air. At
the lower end the wire was coiled
into spring, like one of those traps
used for hrowing glass balls and clay
birds at shooting match. A piece OF
fish-line was fasten ed to the end of the
wire, and then it was was sprung down
under trigger close to the hole in the
ice. Then live sinner was put on
he hook at the end of the line and
dropped through the hole. When
pickcrel swallowed the bait
and tried to run away 9TH it
he pulled the trigger, and the spring
was supposed to yank him out of the
water. Well, Eddy and Ike set two
dozen of these Internal machines out
on the ice and went away, as l said.
At the end of two or three hours Eddy
went out on the ice alone, and few
minutes later Ike dropped his work and
followed him. When he got out where
the holes were cut he found Eddy
standing with his mouth wide open.
looking at his traps. Eighteen of them
were sprung, and each one had pick
erel's head dangling from it. While he
was standing looking at them two more
went off and slung pichere Is heads ont
on the ice saw the trouble about the
thing at once. The springs were too
sudden and too stron q in their action,
and broke off the heads of the fish be-
free the bodies had chance to get UNI
der weigh and follow the m out. Eddy
was so broken-hearted and Disguised
that he pulled up the traps an;l sunk
them in the lake after saving the heads,
and now he doesn't like to hear any
thing about pickerel fishing. l made
him give me the heads and fixed them
up and keep them here to humble him
when he gets to feeling too COOL. H.,
is pretty good sort of a fellow, but in
venting isn't his strong point. If he